Woodstock - November 3, 2009 - 7,000'

Fantastic day at Woodstock. HG pilots of many flavors and hairstyles crowded the set up area and we latecomers actually had to wait for people to launch to get a spot to set up. I found a small piece of real estate before long and got going. I was hoping to get flying quickly and join Bacil for a ridge run to the gap. After helping a few people launch, I joined the masses in the air at 2:30. It had actually lightened up a bit by then and for the first hour I couldn't get more than 1,000 over launch. I couldn't find any good thermals and several times I sank back to launch level and had to work the west facing fingers to get back up. Finally I hooked into something 200' over launch and started to get high. I got around 1,500 over in that thermal and decided to finally head SW. About 2 bends down that way I found this monster thermal, smooth, organized, 800fpm on the averager. I rode that sucker all the way to 4,800 over before it petered out. I cruised a little further South and found more lift. That one topped out at 5,150' over launch (7K MSL) and at that point I was really wishing I had put on my balaclava and had some bar mits. Up there I could see over the Shenandoah mountains into the flatlands toward the coast. Giggling, I went South toward the gap and turned back a couple bends early. From there, it was pretty steady back on down to around 1,500' over in magic air, watching the bald eagles until the light began to fade. I left the ridge and gained 300' on the way to the LZ. When I got over it with 2,000', I decided it was too crowded and with the West cross, I headed over to the bridge field. First time I've landed there but I could see Tony and a couple others over there and I wanted to be one of the cool kids. Had a great no-step landing for just over 2 hours in the air and then hitched a ride back up with Gary. Thanks Gary! Pizza and beer in Strasburg capped the day perfectly. So I crushed my personal altitude record yesterday, hopefully it won't be another year and a half before I beat it again. Here's the video and a screen grab from 7K!